Born of the Voice
by Jacklyn Rookes
Summary: What is better - to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort? When Thella Greylock, devoted to thievery and a life on the road, is caught in the ambush that sent the Stormcloaks to the block, the path to Helgen leads to one of greatness.


Born of the Voice

Chapter One - The Path to Helgen

My family and I sat around a table coveted from an abandoned inn nearby, laughing and drinking in the evening sunlight. It got colder as the sun sank behind the mountains to the west. Kiro eyed me nursing my mead and leaned over to me. His breath reeked, but I leaned closer anyway.

"You never told us your tale, you know," he asserted. I was beginning to get dizzy.

"What tale? You know I'm no good at storytellin'," I answered, grinning sheepishly at the thought of everyone's eyes on me.

"Yours. Why you're here. Why you're thievin'."

"Alright, alright. But you all better listen up," I began, raising my voice some, "because I'm not telling this twice."

"Thella's going to tell her story!" Kiro bellowed. "You all shut yer mouths!"

I looked around. The band of thieves I called home were giving me their full attention, under the rocky overhang we'd made camp in within the marshes of Haafingar.

"My whole story is a long one," I intoned, avoiding the others' eyes, "never told how I got to be here before. Though it's long, I can't say it's happy. But I'll just let you listen.

"The only thing I knew how to do before I began life outside my village was serve as a courier of sorts. All I ever really did was take letters from people to people, sometimes to Half-Moon Mill. My bloodline had been stationed there for five generations, and was a respected family. I knew everyone, and everyone knew me. Yet somehow we never even ended up on a map.

"But then the Imperial Legion decided to have some fun with our tiny place. I was on my way to deliver a message to the hunter that made camp in the woods near us, Vinek." I paused to take a long drink, the memory souring the drink in my stomach. "My father died protecting my mother from the soldiers. But it was to no avail. They had their way with her, and they would have with me if I wasn't out of their sight.

"I came back to the village as it was burning to the ground. Something hit me on my head from behind, and I still don't remember anything after that. But in the night, I awoke to a fox sniffing at my shoe, wondering if I was dead.

"I had trouble building a fire that night. I had trouble staying warm and worried incessantly about wolves and bears or worse, more soldiers. But I knew there was no one left in my hometown. I knew from the reek of death and the still-burning fires that no one was left. Why worry about another group of men when they couldn't take anything more from you?"

The table was silent, my friends hushed, and the sound of frog song ringing out as the evening grew. The almost famed cold of the north blew through my armor.

"In the morning, after a couple hours of sleep, I set off for Whiterun, the closest city I knew of from the maps my father had kept. The hunter that found me shivering by a stream, trying to wash blood and soot off my clothes, was kinder than I was lucky enough to find.

"He gave me furs and a couple days' worth of food, and his spare dagger for protection. And after a few fleeting days in Whiterun, grieving my family, I set out again - and was captured by bandits two miles down the road." I smiled around the table, and when the realization came there was laughter, and Ravek shoved my shoulder, grinning like a skull.

"It didn't happen like that!" He half-glared, half-smiled at me, and called out for the table to listen to him.

"Come to order! We rest for tonight, and Jugin takes watch again. Tomorrah, a caravan bound for Whiterun is scheduled to be on this road at the early hours of mornin'. The last look I got of the record was that it held a shipment of quicksilver from a mine near Dawnstar." He looked around at us, meeting our eyes. "I can't have any of yous fuckin' this up, alright? This is a big break. So sharpen up those weapons and get some sleep. We've got work tomorrah."

While everyone shuffled to their sleeping places for the night, I sat on my bedroll and grabbed some firewood and a knife to fletch some extra arrows. Jugin took his watch atop the overhang, settling on the rock and grumbling about sleep. Everyone was settled into their rolls for the night, but I was anxious. I hadn't ever attacked a caravan before, and it was probably guarded well by Imperial soldiers. Was it different, I wondered, to hit someone inside an open cart? How fast would they react if I hit the cart's side by accident? I put my thoughts into my fletching and had almost two quivers made by the time I fell asleep. The marshes surrounding Solitude really had been a great place to camp. Ravek was right, as usual.

"Thella, wake up!" Kiro said, kicking my shoulder with his steel-clad boot. "Come on. Ravek won't be happy if you miss the raid."

I stretched and groaned, "If Ravek isn't happy you'd know it by lookin' at him."

"Oh, you'll know alright, but you'll be missing an eye for it," Ravek's voice roused me. "Get up, lass. You're our best archer. You back out and we won't have no quicksilver to speak of." He offered a sooty hand and I took it, grabbing my bow as I stood and slinging the leather quiver onto my back. Ravek motioned to our comrades. He stood anxiously, tapping a finger on his belt and looking around at us.

"Alright now. Here's the plan." The sun was still asleep, the snowcaps glowing distantly under the shine of stars and an unmatchedly dark sky. "Thella's gonna shoot her second best arrow in the front wheel and her best into the driver. Then we attack. If she shoots you, you'll be gettin' no pity for gettin' in her way." He winked at me. "Okay?"

"...Alright."

My heart sped up now, but I tried to be excited rather than nervous. This band had taken me in for almost a year. They counted on me, and I on them. Archery was my strong point, none of theirs. They counted on me for this mission. I counted on me for this mission.

I tucked two of my best-made arrows into my boot and listened to Ravek distribute instructions to the band.

He motioned Matik over. "You'll hide in the bushes, cat. Your attack signal will be the dead driver. Focus on the guards. Kiro?"

"Yes, Ravek?"

"Focus on the passengers. You know the rules - no women, no kiddos."

"Yes, Ravek."

"Jugin? You're up ahead, higher on the rocks than Thella. You watch for us like always. If things go wrong we'll need your help, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Thella. You'll be in the rocks, love. Be sure no one sees you. Shoot them as close to Matik's hidin' place as you can."

"Gotcha."

"Off we go then. Honor in thieves?"

"Honor in thieves," we echoed.

I waited, hidden under the branches of a low-hanging tree in the rocks while Matik flashed a knife at me from the cluster of trees across the road. I pulled one of the arrows from my boot and flashed the tip at him, moonlight glinting minimally but visibly. Ravek took his place behind my rock, drawing his sword, and everyone else found their hiding spaces along the road. A few minutes passed, and I heard the rolling of wooden wheels on stone.

Nocking an arrow, I waited almost painstakingly as the cart came into view. Four soldiers walking alongside the cart and two men riding, holding a tarp over the cart's back. The horse was a young one, and I knew Ravek would claim it as soon as he could. The driver was humming.

The wind was hushed, waiting breath-catchingly in the branches above. I drew and aimed, closing one eye. The left front wheel splintered, the cart jolting to a quick halt. I quickly nocked and drew two in the same shot and let loose, and the driver cried out and fell from the seat, the two arrows having found their target in his chest.

Matik sprang from the trees, and hacked at two soldiers while I shot at their knees to help bring them down. Kiro took down the two men in the cart, then turned around and fought off the two other soldiers before Matik was overwhelmed. Ravek, who had delved into the fight when Kiro had, delivered a death blow to the last soldier, then looked up and waved Jugin and I down from our perches.

I scrambled down from the rock, gripping tough roots. Kiro clapped me on the back. Jugin nimbly navigated the cliff face, and we all stood before Ravek.

He was grinning bigger than I'd ever seen. "Time to do the honors," he said proudly. He yanked back the tarp from the cart, and there lay a mound of quicksilver ingots. There looked to be almost enough here to retire the whole band. Ravek stood atop the driver's seat, and the horse shifted uneasily.

"By Nocturnal," he said, "what a haul." He turned to us. "You all earned your share. Five equal parts, no more and no less. We take this to camp and count it, and I'll decide what to do from there."

I slung my bow onto my back, the cord rubbing my chest. Ravek caught my eye. "Thella, you damn genius." He flashed me a smile, then turned to everyone. "You all were today. We can probably take all day to rest before we sell this off.

"Matik is riding with me to cover the haul with the tarp. Jugin, you scout ahead and prepare the camp. Kiro and Thella will be guarding us from afar. Let's go. Honor in thieves!"

"Honor in thieves!"

He turned to Matik as I got in the cart. "Make sure nothing spills out, or I'll 'ave your head for it, hear?"

Matik chuckled, and they started off.

Kiro and I kept an easy distance between ourselves, and Ravek rode ahead with Matik at a well-kept pace. I caught Kiro looking at me a few times and decided to try making some decent conversation. It began to snow lightly, but our thick Nord hides hardly felt a thing.

"So what's your story?" I inquire. I start to glance at him from my peripheral vision.

"Huh?"

"Why are you thieving instead of off farming or selling your swordarm?"

"Trouble with those ideas is, ain't got money for a farm, and every sellsword around here is toted off in the night by the Thalmor, or killed on one of their sketchy missions. No place for me there." Kiro hefted his battleaxe from his shoulder to his back, finally sheathing it after our raid. I grimaced; he'd neglected to clean it. "I'm better at taking what I want with what I have." He looked over at me almost meaningfully, and unless I'm mistaken I caught him doing a once-over.

"Your family?" I shifted my bow from my back to my drawing arm, and his eyes retook the road.

"Long dead, same as yours."

"How?"

"Killed by a band much like ours, but by much meaner people." He squinted up into the snow.

"You have a lot of short answers."

"You have a lot of pushy questions."

That shut me up for a few minutes. I could hear the wind howl in the mountains as it soared to the marshes below, and I saw the gathering of rocky formations where our camp was, a mile or two away.

"Your story wasn't too pretty," Kiro remarked.

I glanced over. "As if I didn't know."

"I'm only sayin', lass."

"I'm guessing yours wasn't too pretty a sight. But you wouldn't think, the way you're so quiet about it."

"You never asked."

"Big, scary guy like you? I've not the courage."

He laughed. "It's the beard, isn't it?"

We reached camp. "Time for a feast, eh, lass?" He stretched and dropped his battleaxe on his bedroll.

"Aye." Putting away my bow, I decided it would stay upon my back. I felt safer with the cord against my chest.

We had a big feast that night. Jugin and Kiro checked their traps, and Matik used spices from home on them as he and I cooked them over the fire Ravek made. I felt more at home now as we all grabbed our stash of mead from a snowbank some meters away and sat to hot meals and cold drinks.

We sang and celebrated through the day, and when night hinted its arrival, we set everything aside to count and add up the day's haul.

"Two 'undred ingots total, with 23 gold and a gem from one of the guards!" Ravek announced when we were finished. We cheered, and he held up a hand for silence. "All of us have our share of the quicksilver but the gold and the gem go to the strongbox, hear? Ain't no one need it for themselves with this kind of haul. We're gettin' close to bein' able to get all our own horses, and now I got mine." He patted the horse's neck. "Now we got one less to worry about. So no whinin'."

Kiro raised his voice. "Who gets the next horse, Ravek?"

He considered. "Whoever brings in the most gold until we have enough will. Don't care what ye have to do. Rob an old lady for all my worry."

I rolled my eyes, then asked, "So everyone gets forty ingots, yeah, Ravek?"

"That's it lass, exactly."

I smiled at Matik, and he closed his eyes at me, giving a short purr. The brush surrounding us rustled, making his ears twitch.

Just as Ravek began a toast, a burly figure sprang from the overhanging rock under which we kept our shelter. He roared, brandishing a greatsword bigger than me, and charged at Kiro. Faster than I thought I could, I grabbed my bow, snatched up an arrow, drew, and let loose.

Miraculously, I hit the man. It splintered in his wrist, which was unguarded by gauntlets, and his powerful swing deflected to Kiro's bicep, grazing it, rather than his neck. Kiro cried out, stumbling back onto the ground and backing away, feeling for his sword with his good arm. The big man, a Breton, swung at Jugin.

I shot an arrow through his calf at the same time Jugin blocked the swing and blasted the Breton with lightning. The huge man fell to a knee, and before he could surrender another arrow was through his neck. He tumbled forward, bleeding out on Kiro's bedroll.

There was a long pause, and Ravek, who had been scrambling for a weapon this whole time, slowly approached the Breton to check for signs of life. "He's dead," our leader assured. Kiro rose, holding his wounded arm, and almost staggeringly walked to me.

"Thel," he began, "I don't know what I owe you. My life, or a sound thrashin' for killing this brute on my bedroll."

Later that night, I lifted the heavy sack of quicksilver cut and stitched from the tarp to my bedroll and laid next to it. I saw the others doing the same. Jugin and Matik dragged away the body, both adding the loot to the strongbox, while Ravek himself tended to Kiro and his wound, ordering the rest of us to get some sleep after the battle-wrought day we'd all had. The cart of quicksilver was the best loot we'd gotten in months, and Ravek was so happy he volunteered for night watch after Kiro was bandaged and given potions, giving Jugin peace of mind. I slept deeply that night under the northern lights, relaxed at the prospect of not having to kill for a while.

It's been a while since that raid. Six whole months. Jugin opted to leave us a week after he sold off his whole portion. He'd decided to get involved in the war and bought shiny armor and a new sword with his money. Kiro and I got far, far closer. Now and then we would sneak away and spend some quality time when the others were asleep. We kept each other warm when our armor came off. That's how I like to think of it, anyway. I still don't know if the others suspected anything, but Ravek would now and then give me a warning look before he went to sleep.

Matik kept cooking for us as per the usual, and came home always with good hunting and good gold. He was the next to buy a horse. We were in Riften's hold when he bought it, and the dappled creature camoflauges well in trees and by rocks and in water. It suited him.

I sold a good bit of my quicksilver in Solitude, before we headed south, to the kind blacksmith with overflowing pockets. (Maybe this war was good for some of us.)

Ravek hasn't changed a bit, of course. He leads us the same as ever and we live just as comfortably as ever, moving nomadically around the land. When this whole thing started, we were just outside Skyrim's border in Cyrodiil, making camp in an old mine (the residents of which didn't need a mine, being dead.)

One of the mornings before our next raid, a young Nord from Rorikstead stumbled into our camp, dehydrated and raggy. He begged for our help, saying he hadn't eaten in days.

Kiro kept his sword pointed at the man, hardly out of ladhood, while I kept a bow trained on him from under a copse of trees. Ravek took a long look at the pathetically skinny creature with his hands up, staring down Kiro's blade.

"Are you any good at thievin', boy?" Ravek grabbed the front of the Rorikstead man's shirt before he could answer. "Because that's how you'll be livin' from now on if you want to stick with us. We got a caravan headin' through from the Imperial City in a few weeks and I want to know what's in it, and we're going to find out. But I'm sending you to be the first line of attack, and if you live, we might keep ya for good. Got it?"

"G-got it, sir."

"Ain't no Thane." Ravek let go of the poor creature's shirt. "You smell like hell, my friend -" his voice wasn't unkind now -"why don't you have a bath after you eat?"

"Yes, p-please. Thank you."

That night, Ravek took watch. We didn't have a name from the stranger yet, but he was clean now with a full stomach and had much better clothes on. Before I slept I set to carving a good bow, and decided to teach the stranger how to do the same. Kiro, who now snored next to me, had agreed to help the man train with a weapon before his debut as a caravan raider.

In the morning, under the rustling trees, we all carried out our tasks. During a good breakfast of rabbit and apple cabbage stew (Matik really knew what he was doing), I spoke to the man gently. His name was Lokir, and he used to pick pockets for a living like Matik does for us.

"I can teach you how to make a bow, Lokir, if you want," I offered. He smiled sadly.

"My sister was the great shot in the family. She always wanted me to learn, too. I guess it would have been easier if I had, yes?" He had a nervous air about him. I kept my eyes on him as Kiro cleared his throat.

"What happened to her?" Kiro asked. He swallowed more stew down and met the man's eye.

"She swore to never speak to me again if I was caught pickpocketing again. I guess I was always destined to be with thieves." Lokir gingerly took a loaf of bread and a knife and started cutting slices away. Kiro took one and dipped it into his stew. "So she hates you now or something?"

He was as rough as a bear's ass, Kiro. "Hey!" I hissed. "Be kinder. Honor in thieves."

"Honor in thieves," Kiro grumbled. He turned to Lokir again. "We have a few weeks until the caravan gets here, so I'm going to teach you how to wield a weapon. Don't be a milk-drinker and you'll do just fine with us four backing you up."

Lokir nodded, and I turned to see Ravek looking at us. We exchanged a glance.

It was the morning of the caravan raid when I awoke to Ravek's horse whinnying. I shot up and grabbed my bow. Lokir was saddled atop Ravek's horse and covering distance away from camp, heading west.

"Ravek!" I screamed as I let arrow after arrow fly. I wasn't concentrating, and they all missed.

"Gods damn it!" Ravek furiously slung his pack on his shoulders and grabbed his mace. My scream awoke Kiro and Matik, who grabbed their weapons and charged after Lokir.

I felt betrayal. We had taken him in, fed him, Kiro even stitched up the man's clothes. We watched over his sleep and trained him with weapons, and now he rode away on Ravek's horse.

He was a thief, yes, but he had none of the honor that came with the group.

Ravek swung onto Matik's horse, and having lost sight of Lokir, I hopped up behind Ravek. He spurred the horse after Lokir in a hot rage.

We rode past the sprinting Kiro and Matik, who urged us further westward. I drew my bow as soon as I saw him, aiming better this time. I grazed his side, and he cried out, trying to make the horse go faster. It only fueled the anger of Ravek, who I knew would flay Lokir as soon as we caught up with him. I knew that moment was soon.

Out of nowhere, Lokir tried to pull the reins and turn back. He had been approaching a Stormcloak caravan, the very one we were to raid that day, and I shot him in the shoulder in his hesitation. He fell off Ravek's horse, which reared and ran away. Ravek threw himself off the horse and stormed towards Lokir. I got down carefully and grabbed an arrow from my quiver.

At that moment, a different arrow pierced Ravek's shoulder, and another stuck through his heart. He fell, groaning, and I raised my bow alarmedly as Imperials flooded around the Stormcloak caravan.

War broke out between red and blue, and I ran as fast as I could back eastwards, trying to find the others. My mind raced at the thought of losing either of them, while tears flew away and hit the ground at the loss of Ravek.

"Kiro!" I cried, gasping. "Matik!"

A blast of fire hit my back, and the soldiers were upon me. "Stop!" I sobbed. "I'm not a rebel-!"

"Shut it, wench!" one of them growled. Matik cleaved an axe into his head, coming suddenly from the roadside as Kiro charged with his battleaxe.

But we didn't make it. I saw Kiro's chest sliced with an Imperial sword and knocked into the trees, and Matik thrown down and killed before my eyes. I screamed, and kicked at the ones holding me away, but it was no use. I felt my vision going black, my sight slowly fading from me.

There was honor in thieves, but none in the Legion.

I awoke groggily to the rumbling of a cart. Did I fall asleep on the raid? Ravek would be furious if I missed my target. I felt around for my bow, but one hand tugged the other with it. I opened my eyes. I was on a cart. My hands were bound.

"Hey. You," a man's voice said. "You're finally awake."

I looked around, my alarm growing. Then it came back - the memories of Ravek's death and Lokir's treachery. I felt my toes go numb with grief, and my ears flushing red with anger.

"Who are you?" I tried to ask, but my voice was far too hoarse, and he didn't hear me over the rumbling of the cart.

"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us. And that thief over there." He nodded his head to his left.

Thief? I looked over, to my right. There he was. Lokir. There was some justice in the gods.

"Damn you Stormcloaks," Lokir hissed. "Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I'd have stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell."

"You," I croaked. Lokir looked over, and didn't seem to recognize me. "You there. You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." The man to my left sneered.

"Shut up back there!" the driver called.

Could no one hear me? I looked to my right again, at Lokir. Look what we've gotten into because of you, I thought. It was no use trying to speak now.

The wind was quiet, the sky above us looming and grey; almost groggy. My mood reflected it.

Lokir looked at the man on the back of the cart. "What's wrong with him, huh?"

Apparently, he spoke wrongly. "Watch your tongue!" spat the other man. "You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King!"

Who cares about the bloody king now, if he's about to die, I thought. The realization hit me as Lokir and the other man spoke.

"Ulfric?" Lokir inquired, looking at the man with the cloth gag. "The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion."

The realizaion hit him, too. "But if they captured you..."

I stared out at the trees. "Oh gods. Where are they taking us?" Lokir trembled.

"I don't know where we're going. But Sovngarde awaits."

The man to my left had a lot of courage to say that. I looked at him.

Lokir began to panic. "No. This can't be happening. This isn't happening!"

The man looked at Lokir. "Hey. What village are you from, horse thief?"

"Why do you care?"

"A Nord's last thoughts...should be of home."

I closed my eyes now. I tried to shut them both out as I pictured the forested lands northwest of Falkreath, the tiny village in the valley of Evergreen Grove. I pictured all the places Ravek, Kiro, Matik, Jugin and I had been together in just the three years I'd known them. I tried to imagine where Jugin was now, which side he'd taken; what had become of Kiro; silently mourned Ravek and Matik.

"Honor in thieves," I whispered, as we pulled to a stop.

Helgen.


End file.
